1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor evaluating device and a semiconductor evaluating method which execute evaluation for an electrical characteristic of a measuring object in a state in which a fluid is sprayed onto the measuring object.
2. Description of the Background Art
When the electrical characteristic of a semiconductor device (a measuring object) in a semiconductor wafer state or in a semiconductor chip state is to be evaluated, a surface where the measuring object is to be provided is fixed by vacuum adsorption or the like in a state where the surface thereof is in contact with a surface of a chuck stage, and a contact prober is then caused to come in contact with a front surface of the measuring object in order to carry out electrical input/output. Moreover, the number of pins in the contact probe has been increased by a request for applying a large current or a high voltage, or the like.
Under the circumstances, it is known that a partial discharge phenomenon occurs between the contact probe and the measuring object, for example, and partial breakage or malfunction of the measuring object is thus caused during the evaluation for the measuring object. For this reason, it is important to suppress the partial discharge. In the case where the measuring object having the partial discharge occurring is drained away as a good product into a subsequent step, it is very hard to extract the measuring object in the subsequent step. For this reason, it is desirable to take measures for suppressing the partial discharge in advance. Therefore, the technique for suppressing the partial discharge is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2003-130889 and 10-96746 (1998), for example.
The Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-130889 describes the technique for inspecting the characteristic of an electronic component in an insulating liquid, thereby preventing a discharge from occurring during the characteristic inspection. Moreover, the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-96746 (1998) describes the technique for executing the characteristic inspection for a thing to be inspected in a closed space filled with an inert gas without using the insulating liquid, thereby preventing the discharge from occurring during the characteristic inspection.
However, the technique described in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-130889 has a problem in that an expensive prober is necessary, and furthermore, a time required for the evaluating step is increased and a cost cannot be reduced because of the evaluation in the liquid. In the case where the measuring object is a semiconductor element in a wafer test and a chip test, moreover, it is necessary to perfectly remove the insulating liquid from the semiconductor element after the evaluation. For this reason, it is difficult to apply the evaluating method.
The technique described in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-96746 (1998) has a problem in that it is not suitable for reduction in cost because the inspection is carried out in the closed space filled with the inert gas without the insulating liquid used and the structure of the evaluating device is complicated and a problem in that a time required for the evaluating step is increased because it is necessary to fill the closed space with the inert gas every time the thing to be inspected is exchanged.